Light is a wonderful means of transmitting energy and information. More solar light energy reaches our planet every hour than all of humankind consumes in one year. Much progress has been made in the field of photovoltaics in order to try to tap into this vast reservoir of energy, but further improvements in the technology are still necessary in order to expand our ability to harvest solar energy. Regarding the reverse process (of light harvesting)—light emission, an enormous source of wasted energy comes from our lighting and display applications—one of the largest percentage of battery consumption on most smartphones or tablets is attributed to the display. Great strides are necessary to improve optoelectronic devices and integrated devices used for light harvesting and light emission.
Organic-based optoelectronic devices, such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photovoltaics (OPVs or organic solar cells) are not as efficient as their inorganic counterparts, and they tend to degrade more rapidly when left in air. The potential advantages of organic optoelectronic devices are large enough to motivate researchers across the globe to try to improve the efficiency, lifetime, and cost of these devices.